The invention relates to a magnetic head for writing and/or reading information in parallel tracks on a magnetic recording medium with high track density, and particularly to such a head comprising a magnet core which includes two oppositely located parts which enclose a transducing gap between them and around which core an electric winding is provided, the magnetic head further comprising means for reducing side fringing effects.
Magnetic heads which are used for writing or reading information in narrow closely adjacent tracks, in particular, on magnetic disks (in which the head during operation floats at a small distance above the recording medium) show a side fringing effect. During writing, so-called track-widening occurs: due to lateral stray fields, the written track is wider than the width of the transducing gap. In addition, upon reading, a certain amount of side fringing response occurs: signals recorded beside the head in the magnetic layer of the recording medium are also read. These effects, of which the side fringing response increases exponentially with the wavelength of the recorded signal, are ascribed to the fact that the side gaps of the magnetic head (these are the parts of the transducing gap opening into the two side faces of the head) "become operative" at high track densities. In order to reduce these effects, a few solutions have already been suggested. For example, it is known from Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 54-76217 to bevel the side faces of the magnetic head and to cover the side gaps with a vapor-deposited layer of magnetic material, and Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 54-58425 suggests making the length of the side gaps a few times longer than the longest wavelength of the signals used. Both solutions require extra technological steps which make the head expensive.